To the Editor: week of Jan. 6-12, 2010

The Rock Valley College Foundation thanks you for including us in the list of nonprofit organizations that your paper has faith in to carry out the sacred trust donors have in us to make our community better.

The Foundation is proud to be among these worldwide organizations and is grateful for your support.

Suzanne Berger

Rockford

Help Noah’s Ark celebrate 32 years

On behalf of our no-kill animal shelter here in Rockford, Noah’s Ark, a nonprofit organization, is celebrating our 32nd anniversary this year, and is the only no-kill shelter in the area. March 6, 2010, we will be hosting our Third Annual Bark and Wine Gala, which will include a wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, quarter buckets and door prizes. The event will be at the SM&SF Club at 1010 Sandy Hollow Road in Rockford, from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets for the event are $25 each or two for $45. We are reaching out to local merchants, like yourself, to see if you may be interested in donating something for our event. Anything will help us, possibly a gift certificate, gift basket, gas cards or a monetary amount. We would appreciate anything you would be willing to help us with. Your gift is tax deductible.

We are trying to raise money to better the lives and living conditions for the hundreds of animals that are brought to Noah’s Ark each year. I am sure you receive countless requests of this nature, but I do hope you have a soft spot in your heart for the animals. If you would like your donation picked up, contact us at 815-962-2767. Our e-mail address has changed to noah@noahsarkanimals.org.

Thank you so much for your consideration.

Marcia Brice

Adoption Counselor

Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary, Inc.

Rockford

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Head hunters! Oh my!

Here I am again, writing in defense of hunting. Seems every year, someone decides they need to bash the hunters, and usually they haven’t got the facts straight. In a sense, most of the
hunting bashing people

know nothing about hunting or the people that enter the sport. And yes, it is a sport. Just like football, basketball, hockey and soccer. All of the above. The big difference is, those mentioned sports get brass or bronze trophies. Hunters, well, they get…heads.

James Wilson from Speed, Ind., needs a little enlightening (The Rock River Times, Nov. 18-24, 2009) as it appears to this writer he has issues with hunting, and that is sad. So very sad. Hunting is an age-old tradition, he got that part right. And hunting does produce taxidermy trophies that line the walls of more places than he has probably visited. He got that right, too.

Picture it…DNR men and women, running amok, hypos in hand, administering PZP to all available does. Birth control for Bambi, how quaint. That is where hunters come into the picture. They level out the playing field; they are the ones who hit the end zone running. They also don’t just kill the animal…they eat it. Has it ever occurred to Mr. Wilson that possibly the other end of the deer was consumed? I would ask Mr. Wilson, does he eat chicken, beef or fish? If so, does he believe that they were not killed? Or maybe they just magically appeared on his table. Purchased at the local market, with all the dread of their passing not on his slate.

Hunting is a sport in this country; hunting is needed in other parts of the world. To belittle the sport, to take curse on the needs of some nations and to opine on something you obviously know little about, would secure in my mind that you have no business writing about such things. Mr. Wilson, have you ever gone fishing? I suppose your next editorial could be…what…the fate of dug-up worms?

Deby Bonzi

Rockford

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Mega-dairy

endangers the water supply

Some people look at the mega-dairy court case as proof that this project is safe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Six different scientists (including ISGS, Army Corps of Engineers, and Conservation officers) examined the data and concluded that the site was karst and unsuitable for the project. Only the people paid by Bos said it was safe. This mega-dairy is not a couple of cows by a stream or a half-acre treatment plant. This is 43 acres of manure, the same as a city of 126,000 built next to Nora and Warren—without sewage treatment! Is it wise to place hundreds of millions of gallons of leaking refuse a few feet above the aquifer that servesthousands of people? We fight to safeguard our families, communities, and county. We fight on!

StopTheMegaDairy.org

Ken Turner

Warren, Ill.

Another one bit the dust

Our Rockford city planners have been contracting companies to demolish many vacant homes and some businesses. That is, along our roughly patched West State Street. But why aren’t these structures being refurbished? Because our Mayor Larry Morrissey and his yes people (the city council members) want to widen this street into a six-lane superhighway! With all the supposed extras—like the added center median, a
green zone

and large cement planters. But, with all this beautification, will it benefit us on the west side? No! It will not be beneficial to anyone because it will be a hindrance to all the neighborhoods to the north, and also to the south of West State Street. And our city planners want to bottleneck this large area from Avon Street to Meridian Road with hardly any access roads! So, here’s something that should have been dedicated to our not-so-friendly City Hall! Another one’s gone (bump, bump, thump). And another one’s bit the dust! (Yeah.) But who will be the next victims of our City Hall’s demolition teams? And will it be more occupied homes, churches, grocery stores and more businesses? Well,
only the shadow knows where the evil lurks!